Ambient Music at Netizens Cyberstop

What does ambient music mean to me? To simply divide it into the two
categories of beatless and beatful music seems silly. To me, what is central
is the creation of a mood or atmosphere. Tie that with mind-candy
aesthics and you found my love for ambient. Ambient is a mind music
which might inspire dancing but which preferably demand full mental attention.

While rhymth is not central to ambient electronic music, nor does it
not play a role. Where I feel rhymth does not fit with ambient is
where it lies down the central element, the beat which is central in
most dance musics. Let rhymth/beat-oriented music come under dance or
lite trance. Ambient which uses rhymth creatively and confusingly --
say not sticking to 4/4 feels good. Dance music is very much body
music - something a lot of people simply can get up and groove to
- it can come naturally and quickly. Ambient is much more 'head'
music - it does not necessarily come quickly, but takes time to
sych with and understand. However, just as much of a rush dance
music is, so can ambient music be. Once your mind follows the paths
laid out in front of you, you will understand what I mean.

Listening to my ambient radio show, Electronic Ambrosia, you are just
as likely to hear Tangerine Dream, the Orb or something on the Fax
label, as you might hear Dead Can Dance, the Cocteau Twins, Praxis or
Syd Barrett. The "electronic" in the title is a misnomer as I am
interested in eclectic atmospheres more than any tie to techno. Note
however, music like Orbital, Plastikman and Hardfloor fits in their
own special way too. Enjoy. One radio show example that I love is
Hearts of Space on public radio (WNYC - 97.3 in NYC).
This show is an hour of music with no spoken interuptions and
provides a variety of music which fills an atmosphere.

For more information about Ambient music -- connect to
Hyperreal's Epsilon Ambient
Music Information Archive, or Sheldon Drake's
Ambient
page.